“We don’t get that much freedom. We have a cocoon and we try to keep the players totally fit and rehydrated all the time.

“There’s two training sessions every day and we’re sleeping in between, so us coaches have got to get the chance to catch up on our sleep as well.

“I know how difficult it is for the players. I’ve trained and played in pre-seasons before and it can be very tough.

“But equally the players will be playing against some teams they know and it gives it a little bit of an edge to be playing against a Premier League team in the first game and I’m sure both times we will want to win.